RR vs LSG Match Preview- IPL 2024, Match 4

The RR vs LSG IPL 2024 match kicks off the campaign for both these two teams in the season. Rajasthan Royals finished fifth last season while Lucknow Super Giants third. LSG lost in the Eliminator in both the last two seasons and will look to surpass that. The Royals, have been searching for their second IPL title since 2009.

Date and Venue

The RR vs LSG IPL 2024 match will be played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday, March 23 from 3.30 pm IST. The Royals play three of their four games in the first leg at home. While LSG plays two games at home. GT and MI play the second match of the day in Ahmedabad from 7.30 pm IST.

RR vs LSG Match Preview- IPL 2024, Match 4

Rajasthan Royals 

The Royals have their core well-retained ahead of IPL 2024. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Trent Boult form the core. They will miss out on Prasidh Krishna who is ruled out after the recent surgery that he did after his quadricep tear. 

The Royals traded Avesh Khan in exchange for Devdutt Padikkal who went to LSG. Rovman Powell and Dhruv Jurel can be the two finishers for the side with Nande Burger as the backup for Trent Boult. Thus the team has specialist players and lacks all-rounders that LSG possesses in plenty. 

RR Squad 

Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger. 

Lucknow Super Giants 

Lucknow Super Giants will be led by KL Raul who will be donning a new role this year. He is expected to bat at number four with a change in management as well. Devdutt Padikkal has been swapped from RR and he is expected to open the batting. The franchise qualified for the playoffs in IPL 2022 and 2023 and lost out on the Eliminator. They year they will look to surpass the Eliminator challenge. 

The franchise has managed to get some replacements ahead of IPL 2024. They roped in the Windies express pacer Shamarh Joseph instead of Mark Wood who pulled out of the season. They also have Naveen-Ul-Haq, David Willey, Mohsin Khan, and the newly added Shivam Mavi in their ranks. Ravi Bishnoi, Krunal Pandya, and K. Gowtham provide them with spin options. 

All-rounders have been their strength in the past two seasons. Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, and Deepak Hooda along with Krunal and Gowtham provide them with enough firepower with bat and ball. They also have the veteran Amit Mishra who can chip in as the Impact Sub. The other option they have is Ayush Badoni. 

LSG Squad 

KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Mohd. Arshad Khan. 

Also Read: Ravichandran Ashwin pushes for massive approach shift in IPL franchises for success 

Key Battles

KL Rahul vs Sanju Samson

Both being keeper-batters they will look to outdo each other in that department. With the T20 World Cup coming up, there is a race on for the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal-Jos Buttler vs Shamarh Joseph 

LSG should ideally play Joseph in the first match and let him bowl against the likes of Jaiswal and Buttler straight up. Both batters have their problems against express pace and Joseph might just win the battle there. 

Sanju Samson vs Ravi Bishnoi 

We have seen teams bring on their lead spinner against Sanju Samson whenever he comes onto bat. He fancies taking on the spinners and also has lost his wicket in the process many times. Thus this will be another intrinsic battle. 

Weather and Pitch

The weather for the RR vs LSG IPL 2024 contest should be a good one. The temperatures will be around 27 degrees in the evening with the humidity levels not too heavy as well. It’s an open ground which means that the air will be able to pass across the ground keeping the conditions in check. 

The venue is a chasing ground with 34 out of the 52 matches won chsaing. Last year, SRH chased down RR’s total of 214 to win a match. This is a very good indicator that the pitch plays well throughout the 40 overs. The captain who wins the toss should prefer chasing.

Conclusion

 Rajasthan Royals playing at home will have the home support egging them on in this first game. They play three out of their four games of the first leg at home. This gives them a good opportunity to finish in the top two after the first leg. 

 Also Read: Faf du Plessis drops huge ‘infectious’ statement on Virat Kohli ahead of IPL 2024